At Peace
by Lif61
Summary: After dying in the Bad Place, Kaia has to decide whether or not she wants to go to her next life.


**A/N: Written for week five of SPN Hiatus Creations. Prompt: Wayward Daughters**

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Kaia was holding Claire's hand in the Bad Place, her pale skin the only warmth she felt as her life left her. Her incredibly blue eyes were sad, and Kaia wished she could tell her she didn't have to be sad, but she didn't have the strength to. Then, Kaia, was looking down at herself, and someone else, a woman with dark skin, was at her side.

"It's time to go, Kaia," she told her.

"But…" Kaia began, feeling her throat start to ache. "I wasn't supposed to die. I wasn't. Patience told me-"

"Patience was wrong," she told her in a calm voice.

Kaia turned to her now, saw that the dark-skinned woman had her hair done up in beautiful dreadlocks that fell to her shoulders, and her white clothing seemed to glow.

"Are you an angel?" she asked.

She gave her a gentle smile, her brown eyes warm.

"No, I'm a reaper. I'm here to take you to the next part of your journey."

Kaia looked down at Claire who still lay beside her, who refused to move even with the danger drawing closer, even with Sam and Dean shouting.

"I… I can't. I can't leave her. And Jody and Donna and Alex. I can't leave them. I just found a family, the first family I've ever really had. Why do I have to go?"

"You could choose to stay, but you'd be a ghost, and eventually, you could end up hurting people." She turned her gaze to Sam and Dean and Kaia looked at them with her. "Those two brothers might even have to hunt you down someday. And if not them, someone else."

"And Claire?"

"Maybe Claire would have to. But she'll eventually pass on, too, and you'll just be here, stuck between two places, in the veil. It'll be a lonely existence."

"Will I go to Heaven?" she asked the reaper.

"I don't know. I only have my orders to help lead your soul to where it belongs. The destination has not been given to me."

Kaia nodded, looking back down at her body. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion as she tried to think.

Would she go to Hell?

The drugs, the Bad Place, all the violence she'd seen in her life thanks to where she'd had to grow up, thanks to the color of her skin. All her life, going into certain spaces, she'd been given weird looks, or someone would say something they thought was righteous when really it just made the hurt in her grow a little stronger. She'd never seen herself as beautiful, hadn't been able to when all she saw of the celebrities plastered on billboards and in magazines and on TV had been women that were white. But surely her skin color didn't have to dictate where she'd end up, and maybe neither did the violence or the nightmares or how she felt about herself.

And she was beautiful.

She'd felt it when Claire had looked at her, and when they'd been showing each other their scars.

She didn't want Claire to have to hunt her down someday. She didn't want to do that to her.

Her mind now made up, Kaia looked to the reaper, swallowing roughly. "I'm ready," she told her.

The reaper smiled at her in a way that made her feel warm inside even though she could hardly feel anything else, couldn't even feel the wound that had killed her anymore. She held out her hand, and Kaia took it.

"I hope wherever you end up that you'll be at peace."

Then she took Kaia into an embrace. Light surrounded her, and she was so afraid she felt tears sting in the corners of her eyes.

And then she was sitting in a chair in Jody's living room.

 _Heaven._

She'd made it to Heaven.

Though Kaia didn't need to breathe anymore, she was still actively doing it, but then her breath caught in her throat as she saw wavy, blonde hair, a girl's back turned to her.

"C-Claire?" she called out.

The girl standing before her turned around, a smile on her face that showed her teeth.

"Hi, Kaia."

"Are you…"

She shook her head.

"I'm just a memory of her."

"And you know that how?" she asked.

Claire - the memory of Claire - answered, "Deep down you know it, so that means I know it too. Here, I'm part of you."

"What about the others?"

"Maybe they'll show up from time to time."

Kaia nodded. That made sense. It wasn't till she was with that extraordinary group of women that she'd truly felt she was where she belonged. They had looked after her, had talked to her, had accepted her; scars, skin color, and all.

Claire held out her hands, and Kaia rose to go to her.

She took her hands in hers, and Kaia realized she was happy.

Claire's eyes went to Kaia's lips, and though this was her Heaven, she still felt her cheeks warm. She started leaning down towards her ever so slightly, and Kaia met her in the middle. Their lips touched, and Kaia felt at home all over again. Heaven. She was truly in Heaven. And she was at peace.


End file.
